Ever since the online cryptocurrency Bitcoin gained attention from people in the mainstream media, many questions remained unanswered. But perhaps the most prevalent was about its mysterious mastermind, widely believed to be Satoshi Nakamoto.

A growing theory held that this name represented a group of highly paranoid cryptographers. But Newsweek, in its first print magazine since the end of 2012, dropped a bombshell on Thursday: that the creator of Bitcoin was actually an individual named Satoshi Nakamoto, though he later changed his name to Dorian Prentice Satoshi Nakamoto, and is a 64-year-old who lives in a modest house with his mom.

After the story broke on Thursday, reporters camped outside of Dorian's house in Temple City, Calif., and a slow car chase broke out after he granted an interview with an Associated Press reporter in exchange for free lunch. In his two-hour interview with the AP, Nakamoto denied any involvement with Bitcoin.

To make the mystery even foggier, a long-dormant forum account associated with a publicly available email attributed to Satoshi Nakamoto resurfaced late Thursday night on a forum with a short but explosive statement: "I am not Dorian Nakamoto." But more on that later.

After the shock of the apparent Newsweek scoop, skeptics were quick to point out the story wasn't as convincing as the headline ("The Face Behind Bitcoin") seemed to indicate. In the words of the editor in chief, the magazine was ready for a "shitstorm" — which is exactly what they got.

Currently, it is difficult to tell whether Dorian Nakamoto is the same person as Satoshi Nakamoto (the Bitcoin creator). So we broke down the evidence, for and against, below.

The quote in question

The most convincing part of the story by Newsweek's Leah McGrath Goodman is Nakamoto's quote while standing in front of his house, flanked by two cops.

"I am no longer involved in that and I cannot discuss it," Dorian said, according to Goodman, when Goodman said she just wanted to ask him about Bitcoin. "It's been turned over to other people. They are in charge of it now. I no longer have any connection."

If Dorian and Satoshi are in fact one in the same, his words make sense. It's widely recognized that after creating Bitcoin, Satoshi stepped out and let other engineers take over the project, to the point that Satoshi has not contributed to the project for years and effectively disappeared from the Internet. His seemingly self-accusatory quote in Newsweek agrees with Dorian's willingness to correspond with Goodman via email — until she asked him about Bitcoin.

Several hours after the article came out, however, Dorian strongly denied his connection to Bitcoin. Specifically referring to the words he uttered in front of his house, Dorian claimed he had simply been misunderstood.

"I'm saying I'm no longer in engineering. That's it," Dorian told the AP. "And even if I was, when we get hired, you have to sign this document, contract saying you will not reveal anything we divulge during and after employment. So that's what I implied."

On the other hand, Dorian could just be lying in an attempt to protect his secret — or Goodman might really have misunderstood him.

Nakamoto's professional background: the evidence

Dorian is a libertarian, a mathematician and an engineer — a "brilliant" one, according to his brother, but also an "asshole." Dorian is wary of the government — when playing with his daughter, he would tell her to "pretend the government agencies are coming after you" — and was frustrated with the hassle of sending money across borders. Finally, his age (64) could explain his old-fashioned coding style, Goodman argues.

This is all compelling evidence. "If you add up all of the circumstantial evidence, it’s pretty hard to believe that everything is some bizarre coincidence," Reuters' Felix Salmon wrote.

Moreover, as Salmon notes, it seems odd for Dorian, a libertarian engineer, to claim he had never heard of Bitcoin until meeting Goodman three weeks ago, and that he would call it "Bitcom" several times during his interview with the AP. But upon reading the Newsweek article closely, and considering the fallout after it hit newsstands, a lot of evidence supports the opposite theory as well.

Despite revealing Dorian's background as an engineer and mathematician, Goodman doesn't show any evidence that he is a sophisticated cryptographer, as the creator of Bitcoin is widely believed to be.

Michele Spagnuolo, a security engineer at Google, said it's not possible for an engineer without knowledge of cryptography to create Bitcoin. "No. It's evident [Satoshi Nakamoto] is an expert in cryptography, probably an academic," he tweeted.

Spagnuolo's thoughts were echoed by Ed Felten, a computer science professor at Princeton University and widely respected cryptographer.

Is there any evidence Dorian Nakamoto was conversant with the crypto literature? Because Satoshi clearly was. http://t.co/95nyMaEYto

Satoshi Nakamoto resurfaces online

The more convincing piece of evidence proving that Newsweek may be wrong was Satoshi Nakamoto's post on the P2P Foundation forum on Ning on Thursday night, denying he is also Dorian Nakamoto. This is the first time that account has been used since February 2009, according to Josef Davies-Coates, the creator of the forum. Davies-Coates also confirmed the account is registered under the same email Satoshi used in his original Bitcoin paper: satoshin@gmx.com.

However, this doesn't prove the person who wrote the post on Thursday is the same person who posted the original message in 2009. Someone could have hacked the account.

A knowledge of basic English

Goodman also claims that Dorian's writing style, as well as his use of the English language, matches that of Satoshi Nakamoto. But in his original post in 2009 about Bitcoin on the P2P Foundation's Ning forum, Satoshi's English is fluent and sophisticated, just as it is in the paper.

Dorian's English, on the other hand, "isn't flawless," according to the AP. And some Amazon reviews, which appear to have been posted by Dorian, show an English that is anything but fluent.

To further support her theory, Goodman quotes several of Dorian's family members, who seem to believe he could have created Bitcoin. But if you were related to a programmer named Satoshi Nakamoto, wouldn't you suspect him of being the man behind Bitcoin?

Not enough evidence

As the evidence shows, it's hard to conclude whether Newsweek is wrong or right, and whether Dorian and Satoshi are indeed the same person. What is clear is that the original story doesn't prove Dorian as the face behind Bitcoin — it simply presents circumstantial evidence coupled with a self-accusatory quote on Nakamoto's part.

Both Newsweek and Goodman stand by the original story, and Sharon Sergeant, a forensic analyst who contributed research to the story, said the evidence she analyzed pointed in Dorian's direction.

"It still comes down to the fact that we could not rule him out. And we tried," Sergeant told Business Insider.

But not ruling something out is hardly the same as proving it's really him.

"'We could not rule him out' is absolutely pathetic standard for anyone pretending to do journalism," tweeted Dan Gillmor, a professor at the Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication.

The Bitcoin community, for what it's worth, seems to lean heavily on one side of the debate:

What's Hot

More in World

What's New

What's Rising

What's Hot

Mashable
is a leading global media company that informs, inspires and entertains the digital generation. Mashable is redefining storytelling by documenting and shaping the digital revolution in a new voice, new formats and cutting-edge technologies to a uniquely dedicated audience of 42 million monthly unique visitors and 24 million social followers.